Wausau, Wisconsin Sales Tax Rate

Insurance (Wausau Insurance), healthcare, and manufacturing. Regional hub in north-central Wisconsin.

The combined sales tax rate in Wausau is 5.500%, composed of the Wisconsin state rate of 5.000% plus a local portion of 0.500%. On a receipt, that stacks up as: State 5% + Marathon County 0.5% = 5.5%.

The formula to calculate sales tax for any purchase:

For a $150.00 purchase in Wausau: tax is $8.25 ($150.00 × 0.05500), total is $158.25.

Wausau's insurance and healthcare sector buys exactly the goods Wisconsin treats specially:

• Prescription Drugs: Exempt when prescribed by a licensed practitioner
• Medical Devices: Varies — often exempt when sold to licensed facility
• Prosthetics & Orthotics: Generally exempt when prescribed
• Oxygen & Respiratory Equipment: Typically exempt for home medical use
• Diabetic Supplies: Test strips, insulin pumps, glucose monitors — generally exempt

Where an item does not qualify, the full 5.500% combined rate applies in Marathon.

For providers in Wausau, entity status decides what the purchasing department owes:

A non-profit hospital is generally relieved of tax on purchases made for its exempt purpose, and a for-profit one on the same street is not — so the entity classification decides the invoice before the item does. The line is not the building: the gift shop, the cafeteria and the parking structure are unrelated business activities and can be taxable at 5.500% inside an otherwise exempt institution, while capital equipment on the scale of an MRI or a surgical robot usually is exempt with the documentation in place. Contracted laundry, food service and medical waste each follow their own Wisconsin treatment. The certificate mechanics are in the exemption certificate guide.

Life-sciences work in Wausau can tap:

• R&D Tax Credits: Federal (up to 20% of QREs); many states add their own — verify Wisconsin's current program
• Equipment Exemptions: Lab equipment used in qualified research often exempt
• Clinical Trial Materials: Drugs/devices used in FDA-approved trials often exempt
• Orphan Drug Credits: Federal credit for rare disease drug development

Since South Dakota v. Wayfair, a seller with no premises, staff or stock anywhere near Wausau can still be required to register in Wisconsin and charge 5.500% on what it ships here — presence stopped being the trigger and volume took over. The thresholds that decide it are in the table below; what they do not tell you is that crossing them obliges you to collect at the buyer's local rate, not a state average, which is why Wausau and its neighbours have to be priced separately. The registration mechanics and the trailing-twelve-month counting rules are in the economic nexus guide.

Audit & Compliance Warning: Because combined tax rates combine state and local tax components, calculating tax based purely on ZIP codes can lead to errors. Many ZIP codes span multiple municipal boundaries with differing rates. For precise auditing, always use address-level geo-lookup.

Three obligations follow the 5.500% rate around Wausau: untaxed out-of-state purchases delivered here owe matching use tax — $55.00 on a $1,000 order — self-assessed to Marathon County; sellers with physical presence or economic nexus must register before collecting; and wholesale sales need a valid resale certificate on file at transaction time. Filing mechanics, exemption certificates, and audit preparation are covered in the Wisconsin sales tax guide.

Wausau carries significant industrial activity. Manufacturing equipment purchases may qualify for exemptions — verify with Marathon County.